The present invention relates to a packet for articles of elongated shape.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a packet for tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars or the like, to which reference will be made throughout the following specification albeit with no limitation in scope implied; such a packet can be either of the soft type, or the rigid type with a hinged lid.
Generally speaking, the soft or xe2x80x98crushxe2x80x99 type of cigarette packet is substantially parallelepiped in appearance and comprises an inner wrapper usually of paper or metal foil, fully enveloping a group of cigarettes, and an outer wrapper or label fashioned from a sheet of material, generally paper, folded in part about the inner wrapping in such a way that the top face of this same inner wrapping remains exposed.
Similarly, a conventional cigarette packet of the rigid type with a hinged lid appears substantially as a rectangular parallelepiped and comprises an outer wrapper of box-like embodiment fashioned from a precreased flat diecut blank, generally card or paperboard, also an inner wrapper normally of paper or metal foil accommodated internally of the outer wrapper, fully enveloping the group of cigarettes and identical in shape to the inner wrapper of the soft type of pack.
The box-like outer wrapping typically comprises a container of cupped appearance, a lid likewise of cupped appearance hingedly associated with a rear top edge of the container, and a reinforcing frame disposed partly inside the container, which is anchored to a front face and to two side faces of the selfsame container.
It is standard practice in the case both of soft cigarette packets and of rigid cigarette packets to affix a revenue stamp functioning as a seal and indicating that the packet is subject to an excise duty in the country of sale.
It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the individual packet comprises a number of specific wrapping components, namely the inner wrapping and the outer wrapping, whether for cigarette packets of the soft type or for cigarette packets of the rigid type, also the revenue stamp, and the frame in the case of the rigid type packet.
Cigarette packets of the types described above are generally enveloped and sealed within a protective overwrapping of transparent plastic film material, typically polypropylene, that serves to create a substantially airtight enclosure and maintain a desired level of moisture internally of the packet. The overwrapping generally incorporates a ribbon designed to facilitate the operation of breaking open the packet by establishing a looped tear line that extends around the lateral faces adjacent to the end face, in the case of a soft type cigarette packet, or to the lid in the case of a rigid packet with a hinged lid.
It is also the practice in the tobacco industry to distribute packets of the two types in question with additional items such as cards, coupons and the like, bearing a variety of messages directed at the consumer. Such messages are often written, but more often pictorial, and might refer for example to competitions and prize draws or lotteries, and to other games of a similar nature.
These additional inserts, especially when bearing pictures relative to prize draws, lotteries and similar games, are associated with the respective packets internally or externally, as best expedient for the particular marketing requirement, and in such a way that the consumer will be able to see the illustrative content only after one or more obligatory unwrapping steps have been performed.
The decision to associate these additional inserts with single packets of cigarettes brings with it a serious cost drawback, in that special cigarette packaging machines have to be procured.
The object of the invention is to provide a packet for articles of elongated shape, tobacco products in particular, such as will afford a simple and economic solution to the drawback in question.
A packet according to the present invention for articles of elongated shape is of the type comprising a first inner wrapper enveloping a group of the articles and a second outer wrapper placed around the first wrapper, the first and second wrappers constituting specific packaging components of the packet, also removable concealing means intended to mask at least one predetermined area of at least one of the specific packaging components, wherein the removable concealing means consist in a layer of opaque material that is removable by scratching.